5 Bestselling Thriller Authors
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Suspense Fiction
A Special Promo on 5-Star Thrillers Today!
Phil Williams has put together another collection of 20 top suspense thrillers, each with 5-Star Kindle Ratings, either Free or for $0.99. Check them out today!
Click on the red link below and you can see their covers and read the blurbs:
Check Them Out Here
This is really good stuff! You’ll see books by 
Kevin Tomlinson
Nick Thacker
Duncan Simpson
Liz Adair
John Hindmarsh
G & R Robson
Phil Williams
Tony Faggioli
William F Brown
That’s me at the end, and you can grab a copy of my suspense novels, ‘Burke’s War’ and ‘The Undertaker.’ Pick some out and enjoy! and enjoy!
Thanks, Bill Brown
Burke’s Revenge Thriller Novel is on its First Ever Kindle Sale
Burke’s Revenge, Book #3 in my Bob Burke action adventure series, was published four months ago and today is the FIRST DAY it has ever gone on sale. So go to the Kindle Book Page, hi-lighted in red below, and grab one. 4.8 Stars on 41 reviews for $0.99.!! That’s 80% off the normal retail price. You can’t beat that deal.
http://amzn.to/ob7qnX
Bob Burke is back… again!
After his recent adventures in Burke’s War and Burke’s Gamble, all this former sniper, Army Ranger, and Delta Force commander wants is to settle down on his North Carolina farm and let Iraq, Afghanistan, and his recent ‘dustups’ with the Chicago and New York mobs fade away like bad memories.
But sometimes you go looking for trouble, and sometimes trouble comes looking for you. When a home-grown ISIS cell strikes the Special Operations leadership inside Fort Bragg itself, in Delta’s own backyard, it’s time for some serious payback and a taste of revenge.
Undersized, underestimated, and now a telecommunications company executive, he is often dismissed as simply the “phone guy,” but as his former Delta sergeants will attest, whether he’s carrying a .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle, a tactical knife, or just his bare hands, he is one of the most lethal killing machines the US Government ever produced.
When C-4 takes out a close friend and one of their own, it falls to the ‘Merry Men of Sherwood Forest’ -– Bob Burke, Ace Randall, a female CID agent, the Geeks, a maverick helicopter pilot, and a large pit-cat to even the score before the terrorists strike an even more important US military target only 200 miles away.
While you are there, you can also check out Burke’s War and Burke’s Gamble, the previous volumes in the series, as well as my other thriller novels on Kindle.
William F. Brown is the author of 9 suspense novels with over 500 Five-Star Reviews: Burke’s War, Burke’s Gamble, The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, Aim True, My Brothers, and The Cold War Trilogy. They are all available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them and the author’s screenplays and other writing at billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
New Covers for 3 of My Suspense Thrillers – Check ’em Out!
NEW COVERS! I decided to try some Sponsored Products ads on Kindle and submitted six of my eight suspense, thriller-novels, which have been out on Kindle for an average of two years. The ads per se consist of the cover and a small blurb of text. Well, the “Thought Police” in far away India took offense and rejected five of my six covers. Wow! What did I do wrong, I wondered. Full frontal nudity? Gruesome Zombies? Blood and Gore? Kiddie Porn? Nope. My books are action adventure suspense novels. Some have Cold War, WW II, Delta Force, or Middle East subjects. Why, pray tell, did the Thought Police reject them? Well, one had a gun on the cover. No guns! One had a WW II theme and had a small swastika, a US Army, and Hammer and Sickle behind a U-boat. One had a swastika on a WW II German airplane. They don’t like nationalistic symbols. They might offend someone. Another had a rifle sight and a cross hairs. I protested and argued to no avail. Cain’t fight city hall. He who has the gold, make the rules, I guess. So, reluctantly I bit the bullet and had my wonderful cover designer, Todd Hebertson, come up with some new covers that would pass muster in far away Mumbai or Delhi. Wow! The net result is I have some really neat new covers. These were approved, but don’t expect me to thank the Thought Police anytime soon. Here’s the first three of the new covers, let me know what you think.
You can check out my other suspense novels, read a few chapters, see some of my other writing, and the status of my next book at my web site http://box5462.temp.domains/~billbro4 Check ’em out!
Never Go Back, a Jack Reacher Thriller by Lee Child Book Review
Everybody likes the Jack Reacher series. He is the no-nonsense hero of 17 of Lee Child’s action-adventure novels, two of which, including this one, Never Go Back, have been made into movies starring Tom Cruise. Cruise is an improbable pick to play Reacher, but the movies are very good, as are the books. I liked this one better than the last few. The story really pulls you in and the action is non-stop. Reacher, the ex-MP major hitches all the way from South Dakota to visit Major Susan Turner, the new CO of his old unit, the 110th MPs in DC, only to discover that she’s in jail and some very dark
Suspense Thrillers
characters have taken over. Rather than go back out the way he came in and disappear again, (as Reacher would never do) he sticks around, breaks himself and her out of the stockade, and sets off with no money and no resources, not even shoe laces, to take on the entire Pentagon establishment and the FBI. With Reacher, that isn’t a fair fight. He and Turner travel back and forth across the country to track down a large drug smuggling operation that has been going on right under the Army’s noses. As usual, the action is nonstop and the writing spartan and no nonsense. Lee Child has never seen an adjective he likes or uses. It is all straight nouns and verbs. The only thing that made a big thud with me was the ending. Hiss Boo! I won’t give away plot spoiler, but a big basher like Reacher deserves enemies that rise to his stature, and who he personally bests in the end, not those two guys.
William F. Brown is the author of 8 suspense thrillers with over 500 Five-Star Reviews: Burke’s War, Burke’s Gamble, The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and Aim True, My Brothers, and The Cold War Trilogy. They are all available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them and the author’s screenplays and other writing at billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
Foreign Influence, a Scott Harvath suspense thriller by Brad Thor
Brad Thor’s Scott Harvath series has become a must-read for action-adventure, suspense thriller fans looking for a good airplane or swimming pool book. His 16th Scott Harvath book has just come out, and Foreign Influence is book #9 of the series. All of them are thick books, so he is banging them out. I’ve read most of them, and can attest that you don’t need to read them in order. I think one of the reasons this series sells well is that the main character,
Thriller Novels
Scott Harvath. He is the secret-secret agent, ex-Navy Seal, master of Black Ops who is working for The Carleton Group, a private company to whom the Defense Department has secretly “outsourced” the “go-kill-the-bad-guys” work they can’t legally do anymore budget. He’s the kind of agent we all hope this country would employ – one who goes out and hunts down the terrorists before they hurt us, and shoots first. Sadly, that’s exactly the kind we know it doesn’t employ, and probably shouldn’t. I think that’s Brad Thor’s view too, and, like Daniel Silva and a few others, he pulls no punches in his scathing commentary regarding US foreign and defense policy in the Middle East and how it lets the terrorist states push us around. Whether you subscribe to that view or not, the books are good reads. In addition to the non-stop action, there is a lot of violence, particularly directed at the bad guys, always on full-automatic. And there is torture, but usually of the “bomb is about to go off” type. He has created some unique minor characters, like “The Dwarf” and his big dogs, among others. Great literature? Hardly. But if you are sick or need a good suspense thriller swimming pool book, they are great. Just don’t over-think them.
William F. Brown is the author of 8 suspense thrillers with over 500 Five-Star Reviews: Burke’s War, Burke’s Gamble, The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and Aim True, My Brothers, and The Cold War Trilogy. They are all available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them and the author’s screenplays and other writing at billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
“Deadly Stillwater” suspense fiction by Roger Stelljes – Book Review
Roger Stelljes has now written six police procedural, suspense novels featuring Mac McRyan and his friends from the St. Paul Police Department. Deadly Stillwater is the third book in that series, series of action-adventure, suspense fiction set in St. Paul, Minnesota. No doubt, there will be more to come. Although series books are very much in vogue these days; I usually dislike them, because they all-too-often cheat the reader. I feel a story should be distinct and complete from cover to cover and not simply a teaser to get the reader to buy yet another book. By and large, Roger Stelljes’ excellent suspense fiction featuring
Suspense Fiction
‘Mac’ McRyan and a cast of quirky St. Paul homicide detectives don’t do that. They are self-contained stories and you really don’t need to read them in sequence. While they are nominally cop stories, like Deadly Stillwater, Roger Stelljes they are much more action-adventure than police procedurals and fun reads. Think Mitch Rapp with a badge, shooting first and asking questions later. Because this series is set in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, they will always draw comparison to John Sandford’s highly successful “Prey” thriller novels. I think Stelljes’ books like “Deadly Stillwater” have considerably more action and running around (the characters are always running or racing somewhere), while Sandford’s have better suspense and character development, but both series are good reads. Roger Stelljes’ books are on Kindle, and you can frequently find them in the Kindle Countdown Sales. Pick one up, like “Deadly Stillwater.” They are great for the beach or a long airplane ride.
William F. Brown is the author of 5 suspense fiction novels with over 300 Five-Star Reviews: The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and now Aim True, My Brothers. They are all available on Kindle and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them and my other book reviews at my web site Billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
Michael Connelly’s The Crossing – Book Review
Book Review – This is a very good Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly. You don’t need to know anything else. Connelly is the best in the business. The stories are always about watching Harry Bosch slowly pick at the threads of a mystery, one thread at a time until he has the case solved and the bad guys in jail. In this one, he is actually sharing screen time with Mickey Haller, his half-brother defense lawyer, who is hte main protagonist of five of his own books in the second series by Michael Connelly. Those Mickey Haller books are every bit as good, but I personally prefer Harry Bosch. He is a dark, plodding vulnerability about Harry that is hard not to like.
Thriller Novels
“The Crossing” refers to Harry Bosch going to work for the criminal defense, which violates every Blue Line cop rule and earns him the enmity of the other LAPD homicide detectives, at least until he makes his case. I love Harry Bosch, but Connelly has created a slight character/ plot / chronology problem for himself. As those of us know who read all of the books, Harry Bosch was a tunnel rat in Vietnam, I think, in nineteen sixty-eight. Even if he went in when he was 18 or 19, he’s now in his upper 60s and getting a little long in the tooth for the action scenes, much less having an eighteen-year-old daughter. I thought Clint Eastwood was a little old for the part in Bloodwork, but now he’d probably work just fine in The Crossing.
Bill Brown is the author of eight mystery and suspense novels currently for sale on Kindle — Burke’s Gamble,” “Burke’s War,’ ‘The Undertaker,’ ‘Amongst My Enemies,’ ‘Thursday at Noon,’ “Aim True, My Brothers,’ ‘Winner Lose All,’ and ‘Cold War Trilogy.’ Enjoy! You can find other reviews under the book review tab on my website.
Book Review of Robert Tannenbaum’s “Tragic”
Book Review of Robert Tannenbaum’s “Tragic” by William F Brown. I used to love this series and read all of Tannenbaum’s excellent thriller novels and bought the new book as soon as it came out. Robert K. Tannenbaum has published 25 novels, perhaps a dozen of which feature crime busting New York City DA Butch Karp, his quirky, feisty, Italian wife Marlene Ciampi, their savant daughter, and there twin sons. The best of them were a fast-moving combination of detective story and courtroom drama, and they were all New York City. Invariably, Karp drove the story, taking the lead against one nasty bunch
Thriller Novels
of bad guys after another, with his family providing fire support. True, the novels got a bit bloated and under edited in recent years; but book after book they were great reads as long as Tannenbaum stuck to the basic formula of great characters, lots of action, a nasty crime, and enough twists and turns to serve as a plot. It isn’t that “Tragic” doesn’t have some of that, it just doesn’t have enough of it. The family seems to take an extended vacation. And for some reason he has decided that “On the Waterfront” meets “MacBeth” can pass for a plot. I don’t mind the “On the Waterfront” part nearly as much as I mind the inexplicable allusions to “MacBeth,” complete with three witches standing around a fire. All of the good suspense writers seem to go through dry patches, and “Tragic” could well be one of them. That would be ‘tragic,’ but we loyal readers will continue to stick with the brand, hoping the Golden touch returns in the next one ─ up to a point.
William F. Brown is the author of 5 suspense novels with over 300 Five-Star Reviews: The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and now Aim True, My Brothers. They are all available on Kindle and now on Audible Audio Books. You can read this review and others at billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
Silence of the Lambs – From Novel to Screenplay to Movie
The suspense thriller Silence of the Lambs — whether you look at the novel written by Thomas Harris in 1988, the working screenplay and storybook by Ted Tally from 1990, the resulting movie directed by Jonathan Demme in 1991, or the magical performances of its lead actors, all of those pieces come together to make “Silence of the Lambs,” the movie, an American suspense thriller classic. While most of fans simply enjoy watching it, it is interesting to see where the genius came from. Very few novels ever make good screenplays, and I feel the
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better the book the harder it is. A novel is largely about what people think, while a movie is about what they do. Reading thru this novel and screenplay, 95% of the screenplay comes from the novel, to Harris’ credit; but Talley left large chunks of the novel out of the screenplay and Demme left chunks of the screenplay on the cutting room floor, because a gesture or a quick camera shot can convey many pages of text. The trick, is to show all that thinking and back story through action, motion, gestures, and inflection. I have adapted three of my own suspense thriller movels into screenplays, keeping it tight is easier said than done. In this case, a 352 page hardback novel was adapted into a 120 page screenplay, and an even tighter, superbly edited movie of only 118 minutes. The screenplay and movie stay very true to the plot and characters which Harris wrote. However, both Tally and Deme made a number of small, but very magical additions. The best is the final scene at a small Caribbean airport where Lecter watches his nemesis, Dr. Chilton arrive, while Lecter is on the phone congratulating Clarice Starling for graduating from the FBI Academy. As Lecter hangs up and begins following Chilton up the street, we all know what he plans to have for dinner. The novel ends with Lecter writing Starling a congratulatory note which tells her he will not come after her, because the world is a better place with her in it. Tally’s screenplay has the airport scene with Chilton and Lecter saying these things to Starling over the phone, but the scene is at night. When Demme films Silence of the Lambs, he has the scene in broad daylight so we can see the nervous panic on Chilton and the glint of coming revenge in Lecter’s eyes. That stroke of brilliance gives the movie viewer one more chill up his spine before the final credits. When you read the working screenplay while watching the movie, you can see many, many more examples where Tally tightened and added to the novel, and where Demme made further cuts and added some wonderful touches. You can see more of Demme’s Silence of the Lambs brilliance in the story boards he sketched to show the feel he wanted in certain scenes. While praising Harris, Tally, and Demme for their genius, it is impossible to ignore what Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levine brought to their characters. In his introductory scene, Hopkins is able to scare the hell out of us by just standing still and looking out through the bars of his cell, absolutely deadpan, while Foster uses accent, mannerisms, and phrasing to create a memorable character of a backwoods country girl. One could cite dozens of other examples in the writing, directing, and acting; but in the end, what makes it a great suspense thriller, one of the very best ever made is that all of those pieces came together in 118 minutes of film. I would also cite “Day Of the Jackal,” in 1971, “The Eagle Has Landed,” in 1975, and “Eye of the Needle,” in 1978 as excellent adaptations of very good thriller novels. The resulting films have stood the test of time, which proves that a great suspense thriller can be made without a single ‘blue screen,’ computer-generated special effect, or other gimmick. Imagine that!
William F. Brown is the author of 5 suspense thriller novels with over 300 Five-Star Reviews: The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and now Aim True, My Brothers. They are all available on Kindle and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them at billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
Book Review – “Deadly Stillwater” suspense fiction by Roger Stelljes
Deadly Stillwater is the third book of what is currently a five-book series of police, action-adventure suspense fiction set in St. Paul, Minnesota. No doubt, there will be more to come. Although series books are very much in vogue these days; I usually dislike them, because they all-too-often cheat the reader. I feel a story should be distinct and complete from cover to cover and not simply a teaser to get the reader to buy yet another book. By and large, Roger Stelljes’ excellent suspense fiction featuring
Suspense Fiction
‘Mac’ McRyan and a cast of quirky St. Paul homicide detectives don’t do that. They are self-contained stories and you really don’t need to read them in sequence. While they are nominally cop stories, like Deadly Stillwater, Roger Stelljes they are much more action-adventure than police procedurals and fun reads. Think Mitch Rapp with a badge, shooting first and asking questions later. Because this series is set in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, they will always draw comparison to John Sandford’s highly successful “Prey” thriller novels. I think Stelljes’ books like “Deadly Stillwater” have considerably more action and running around (the characters are always running or racing somewhere), while Sandford’s have better suspense and character development, but both series are good reads. Roger Stelljes’ books are on Kindle, and you can frequently find them in the Kindle Countdown Sales. Pick one up, like “Deadly Stillwater.” They are great for the beach or a long airplane ride.
William F. Brown is the author of 5 suspense fiction novels with over 300 Five-Star Reviews: The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and now Aim True, My Brothers. They are all available on Kindle and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them and my other book reviews at my web site Billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com